Here is the Firefox location bar, search engine box, and toolbar customization menu, all shown as default in Firefox 3. This post describes how to consolidate these two boxes.

Firefox allows users to create and perform highly tailored keyword searches from the address/location bar (no, not the search engine box in the top right, but the location bar containing “http://…&#8221;). I prefer to use just the location bar, since I get a little distracted with too many text boxes. With a little effort, you can consolidate search and location entry.

Higher Web Productivity

The “awesome bar” will allow you to zip through the web using personal keyboards. Just jump to the location bar, type in a location or any number of quick searches you add (see below), and you may be impressed just how quickly you can pull up on-demand info using this approach. Teach your fingers at least one shortcut to get to the location bar; the following keyboard shortcuts will work (within Firefox):

F6

Ctrl/Cmd+L

Alt+D

Ctrl/Cmd+T, which opens a new tab and places your cursor at the location bar

The first thing I do to simplify my browsing experience in Firefox is get rid of the search engine box next to the location bar, so that I can focus on my own searches which use the location bar. To remove it, right-click on the menu bar, click “Customize …,” then drag the search engine box into the newly opened window.

Import Useful Quick Searches

I used a Lifehacker post (Geek to Live: Fifteen Firefox Quick Searches) to help get me started. I tailored it to my taste; you should do the same. You can check out the Lifehacker post for their version, or continue here with my version. Open the target bookmark files in your browser to see the difference.

Go to the Firefox Bookmarks menu, and choose “Organize Bookmarks…” or “Manage Bookmarks…” (depending on your version of Firefox).

From the Library or Bookmarks Manager menu, choose import from either the “Import and Backup” menu or the file menu (depending on your version). Import the HTML file you saved in step 1. You can safely delete this file after import.

By default, Firefox performs a Google search if you type into the location bar terms which are not possible web locations (e.g. “example.com”) and do not match your keyword searches (e.g. “lh firefox”). You can rely on that, but you will get more consistent results if you explicitly define a Google quick search with a keyword (I use “go” or “google”).

Easily Add Any Search

You can easily expand your keyword searching while you browse the web. Whenever you see a search box on a web page,

right-click within the search box, select “Add a Keyword for this Search …”

"I conclude that there are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies.
The first method is far more difficult."